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Potnia Theron Schema by Emily Simons A GRIPPING TAIL Re-interpreting the Archaic Potnia Theron Schema By Emily Simons A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Classics Victoria University of Wellington 2014 Art cover, gold plaques depicting the Potnia Theron schema. Sourced: http://www.pinterest.com/annanorthman/grecia-clasica/. Accessed 11 March 2014. ABSTRACT The Archaic Potnia Theron schema depicts a central female figure grasping an animal in each hand. She is often associated with the goddess Artemis. Yet, evidence from the early Archaic period indicates that she was not yet associated with the goddess. The identity of the schema has been the subject of a number of studies, and the connection of the figure with Artemis is well ingrained in scholarship. The identification of the figure as Artemis relies heavily on a brief description from Pausanias’s Perigesis, and the epithet Ποτνία Θηρῶν given to Artemis once in the Iliad (Hom. Il. 21.470). Furthermore, the image was later attributed to the goddess Artemis on account of her affiliations to wild animals. However, this thesis investigates the identification of the figure and examines the evidence (or lack thereof) for the attribution of the figure to Artemis in the Archaic period. Chapter One will investigate the Potnia Theron schema and its use in the Bronze Age. It will consider the possible contribution that the Bronze Age schema may have had on the image in the Archaic period, acknowledging possible influence from the Near East. It will also discuss problems with Archaic source material, the fluidity of Archaic Greek religion, and the characteristics of the Archaic Potnia Theron schema. Chapter Two will analyse the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in Sparta as the main case study for the use of the Archaic schema in a sanctuary context. The chronology at the site, and its examples of the schema make it particularly useful for this investigation. Chapter Three will follow with an analysis of the schema on items lacking contexts, as it was used for decorative purposes on vases, jewelry, and plaques. Finally, Chapter Four will examine the role of Artemis, how the Potnia Theron pose has since been interpreted to represent the goddess. This thesis will determine when the schema became associated with Artemis and investigate evidence for its use prior to this association. ! 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………………….3 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………….4 METHOD………………………………………………………………………………………………...9 CHAPTER ONE: THE POTNIA THERON SCHEMA IN THE BRONZE AGE AND ARCHAIC PERIOD …….15 SUMMARY……………………………………………………………………………………...29 CHAPTER TWO: THE SANCTUARY OF ARTEMIS ORTHIA, SPARTA……………………………………30 SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………………………...…53 CHAPTER THREE: POTNIA THERON IMAGES LACKING CONTEXT……………………………………54 SUMMARY…………………….…………………………………………………………….….61 CHAPTER FOUR: ARTEMIS MEETS POTNIA THERON: ASSOCIATIONS IN THE ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIOD..………………………………………….…………………………………………………....63 SUMMARY………………………………………………………………………………………75 CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………………………..77 APPENDIX ONE – FIGURES…………………………………………………………………………....80 FIGURE LIST………………………………………………………………………………………..…105 BIBLIOGRAPHY..………………………………………….………………………………….……….112 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am particularly grateful to a number of people who helped and supported the production of this thesis. An important mention must go to my supervisor Diana Burton, for her timely edits, useful discussions and challenging questions. I am also grateful for the support and dedication to the cause from my family: Mary, Conrad, Jess Simons, Matt Mitchell, and the O’Halloran grandparents. Thanks to Katie Isaacs, Tania Hayes, and Chris De Lisle for their extremely useful edits and comments along the way, for their helpfulness no matter the time. The entire Department of Classics at Victoria University has supported and encouraged this thesis. A special mention must go to Alex Wilson and Sheryn Simpson for their continued encouragement, technical support, and nourishment. I am also grateful for the advice and assistance of Harriet Kerr, Sam Webber, Julia Simons, Alex Oldfield, Jaimee Murdoch, and Judy Deuling. ! 3 INTRODUCTION The Archaic Potnia Theron schema is traditionally associated with the Greek goddess Artemis. However, unlike artistic representations of other Greek deities and heroic figures, most of whom the modern viewer can recognize through attributes provided in myth and depicted in art, the identity of the Potnia Theron schema is difficult to place. It consists of a central female figure holding an animal, usually by the neck or leg, in each hand. The identity of the schema has been the subject of a number of studies, and the connection of the figure with Artemis is well ingrained in scholarship.1 The identification of the figure as Artemis relies heavily on a brief description from Pausanias’s Perigesis, and the epithet Ποτνία Θηρῶν given to Artemis once in the Iliad (Hom. Il. 21.470). However, the schema is emblematic; it does not appear to have a mythic background and the concept of a coherent Greek religion was not fully established in the Archaic period. I consider the basis for the interpretation inconclusive and this thesis will reconsider the attribution of the schema to the goddess Artemis. ! Iconography is culturally specific and is often the result of multiple cultures interacting to forge new images and new meanings. Cultures may share images but the meaning of these images can remain unique to each culture or inhabit different contexts. The ancient Greek world was subject to a number of external influences throughout its development: from the East, Egypt, and its own historical Bronze Age predecessors. Quantifying the nature of such influences is both difficult and often subjective. Moreover, Greece was not a single entity during the Archaic Period but rather comprised of often disparate and varied regions. Regionalism is important to iconographic interpretations because it emphasizes differences between societies and subsequently their iconography. Influential scholarship in the twentieth century had two dominant approaches in determining the development of Greek religion and society. Early in the century Arthur Evans and Martin Nilsson argued for the Greeks’ reliance on their heroic Mycenaean and sophisticated Minoan predecessors.2 This was followed by a period in which Greek social, artistic, !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1 See Aegeaum 2001 for an analysis of the figure in the Bronze Age and its contribution to the goddess Artemis. Marintaos 2000; Dawkins 1929; Rose 1929. 2 A summary of the arguments can be found in Preziosi and Hitchcock 1999, 7-20; Nilsson 1927 argues that the link between Greek religion and Minoan, Mycenaean religions can only be “bridged by the aid of hypothesis,” although he notes that aspects of Greek religion are based from the Mycenaean past, specifically he notes that the hero cults aimed at Mycenaean remains indicate if not a ! continuity of practice, at least a significant contribution to Greek religion, 10, 42; Evans 1912, 277. 4 and religious developments were believed to have depended on Eastern contact.3 Now however, it is possible to draw parallels in iconography and religious beliefs with the Near East, Greece, and their Bronze Age predecessors, as “no general statement about the nature of transmission or parallel development has won acceptance.”4 Iconography is particularly informative in the study of cultural contact and the Greek goddess Artemis and her associations with the Potnia Theron schema stands at the forefront of this discussion. During the Greek Archaic period, local deities appear to have evolved in relative isolation providing different epithets, myths, and cult practices to the larger and more popular Olympian gods, signalling a process of appropriation.5 It was during the Orientalising and early Archaic periods, c. 700-500 BCE that a figure emerged in Greek iconography: a female poised between two animals, holding them with her hands by their necks and legs. This image was later attributed to the goddess Artemis on account of her affiliations to wild animals.6 However, the origin of this figure is controversial. Not only is her pose reminiscent of the Bronze Age ‘goddess’ type (fig. 1),7 but it is also similar to the iconography of Near Eastern goddesses (fig. 2).8 The Potnia Theron image is specific to the early periods of Greek history: the Orientalising and Archaic periods. It is not depicted in the Classical period lending support to the notion that the figure may have originally represented a particular local goddess or concept particular to the early Greeks. Or, it may imply that the figure portrayed Artemis in a manner which was increasingly unpopular or unfashionable towards the Late Archaic period. Until recently, scholars have tended to ignore, or treat very lightly, the influence of Minoan and Mycenaean cultures on the image’s development, preferring instead to ascribe the violence in the images to goddesses from the Near East.9 But this approach is overly simplistic, as will be further developed in Chapter One. While it is true that physical proximity does not always !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 3 ! Vernant 1991, 151; Fischer-Hansen and Paulsen 2009, 13; Hjerrild 2009, 42. 4 Naiden 2013, 411. Naiden provides further discussion about historical approaches to Greek religion and a concise evaluation of previous
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